Contaminant detection in treated water using Optiqua’s MiniLab™ biosensing system: a case study for Bisphenol A

An inhibition assay for detection of Bisphenol A (BPA) in treated water has been developed and validated for the MiniLab™ system from Optiqua Technologies. This biosensor-based analytical system can be used for detection of specific contaminants in solution. The system uses an integrated optic Mach-Zehnder interferometer chip that is functionalised with a biochemical interface layer. The sensor chip surface was first coated with aminodextran which formed a hydrophilic layer suitable for further modification. 4,4-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl) valeric acid (BVA), which is a structural analogue of BPA, was then successfully coupled to the aminodextran layer. This surface chemistry was used in a qualitative inhibition assay format for the selective detection of the presence of BPA. The assay was developed and optimised using a polyclonal anti-BPA antibody. Samples from 12 different water matrices of Singapore were spiked with known amounts of BPA and tested with the MiniLab™ system. The working range of the BPA inhibition assay is from 0.5 to 5 µg/L. Intra- and inter-assay variations were measured, with calculated relative standard deviation averaging of about 15%. BPA concentrations of the spiked samples were also verified and confirmed with LC-MS. Such functionalised biosensor chip can be reused for more than 200 sample injections over a period longer than 6 months. Developed as a robust, user-friendly and cost-effective system that can be field deployed, the MiniLab™ system enables target-specific assays currently only available in the lab to become available in the field.